AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



17 



friend of his, at Bahia, I had anticipated little trouble in arranging for my 

 passage home and the forwarding of my collections. It unfortunately 

 happened that he was absent at this time from the country, and also that 

 no provision had been made for the arrival of any of the field parties at this 

 point, and consequently that no arrangements had been made for sending 

 home any members of the Expedition or their collections from Bahia. I 

 was thus received as a stranger, and as my funds had become exhausted, 

 and I was also seriously ill, the outlook was not exhilarating. It was, 

 however, my great good fortune to find at my hotel Captain Joseph Swift, 

 of Gloucester, Mass., a retired shipmaster now acting as a super-cargo for 

 a Boston firm engaged in the Brazil trade. I revealed to him my straits 

 and he immediately took me under his care, even advancing money for my 

 expenses. He also secured passage for me on his vessel soon to sail for 

 Boston. I shipped the collections by the steamship 'North x\merica' of 

 the United States and Brazilian Steamship Company. 



On December 15 I left Bahia on the Hanoverian brigantine ' Gehardina/ 

 of 300 tons, chartered here for Boston and loaded with sugar and hides by 

 Captain Swift, who with myself were the only passengers, payment for my 

 passage to be made on my arrival in Boston. The accommodations were 

 primitive — a berth in the Captain's cabin under the companion-way, the 

 fare conforming in character to what would be expected in a small sailing 

 vessel in the commercial trade. The officers and crew were Germans, but 

 some of the former could speak a little English. During the three weeks 

 spent in Bahia I made the acquaintance of a number of foreigners resident 

 in the city, among them several who were much interested in scientific 

 pursuits, notably Dr. O. Wucherer and Charles Williams. 



The ' Gerhadina' was favored for a month with fine weather and made a 

 quick voyage as far as Cape Hatteras, with a fair prospect of reaching 

 Boston in less than forty-five days from Bahia. But January 21, in passing 

 the Cape, we were suddenly struck by a furious gale, which rapidly drove 

 us off our course to the eastward. We were constantly under close-reefed 

 sails for fourteen days, the wind shifting about every twelve hours from 

 northwest to northeast, and back again, with tremendously heavy cross 

 seas. At the end of this period the ship had become strained and was 

 leaking, the food supply was getting short, and as a last resource Captain 

 Swift and Captain Aalderks decided to try to make Bermuda, then not far 

 away. But as we had not seen the sun for two weeks, it was dangerous to 

 trust to dead reckoning in attempting to make so difficult a port in stormy 

 weather. So the 'Gerhadina' was soon headed southward for St. Thomas, 

 the harbor of last resort for North Atlantic seamen in distress. In a short 

 time we passed into smoother water and in due time reached the harbor 



